That’s right, we’re back for this Austin Beer Week favorite. Three years of bike ridin’ and drinkin’ shenanigans? That’s longer than some beer bloggers have been legally drinking. We’re taking over the streets of north-central Austin to visit some old favorites and new friends. We’ve lined up a few food and drink specials and may have a bonus stop thrown in. Meet us at Draught House anytime after 3:00 for a beer or two before we roll out around 4:00.

• Annual brewery sales reaching $75.9 million with volume nearly doubling year over year.
• Direct economic impact surpassing $222 million (output of brewing, wholesale and retail tiers).
• Active job creation through direct and ancillary industries, with brewer payrolls contributing
$24.5 million directly and represent 51.2 percent of the state’s brewery jobs.
• $16 million contributed to local and state tax revenue.
• 92 percent of Texas craft brewers are planning capital expansions, representing upwards of $30 million invested in the next five years.

It’s a pretty lengthy document, check out the whole thing here, and be sure to support the Guild and participate in the upcoming Texas Craft Brewers Festival in early October (for all those burned by other festivals recently, THIS ONE IS LEGIT), and then Austin Beer Week in late October.

So everyone’s favorite beer guide in Austin is back for another issue. Yeah, just like you we had our doubts that we’d be able to pull another one off wt all the babies in camp ABG these days. Somehow, we made it, and it’s better than ever.

Patio-beer-magedon- Austin Beerworks, Hops & Grain, Jester King, and Live Oak will be pouring some pretty special casks and kegs on the patio. There will also be a nice selection of some of Texas’ finest beer in cans available. Purchase tokens inside, or pay cash outside, enjoy.

Summer Reading List- Be the first of your friends to get yr mits on the new guide. Awesome cover by Michael Sieben, new features, some swear words, lots of pictures, and of course, that great guide content you’ve come to rely on.

Surprises- yeah, we’ve got more up our collective sleeves than this. Come next Thursday night to Billy’s to find out. Here’s a hint- it’s a hot way to keep it cool.

We not so recently had the opportunity to attend some of the events for the Off Center Film Festival, a collaborative effort put on by Dogfish Head Brewing Company and the Alamo Drafthouse, held annually here in town. This year’s festival centered around a Western theme and we were able to attend the Rolling Roadshow presentation of Mel Brooks’ Blazing Saddles and a DFH Beer Feast set to what is considered the greatest Western ever made, Sergio Leone’s classic, Once Upon A Time In The West.

My personal highlight of the festival was the screening of Blazing Saddles in Republic Square Park. Nearly all of the Central Texas production breweries were on hand with three or four beers each in what felt like a miniature TX Craft Brewer’s Festival. Since one of the goals of the evening was to raise money for the TX Craft Brewer’s Guild lots of rare kegs and one off beers were offered up. With the impressive growth Austin has witnessed in our craft beer community the number of brewers easily doubled from the previous year’s screening, offering up plenty of variety for even the most discerning of beer nerds. 3oz samples were poured from a list consisting of the Jester King/Mikkeller collaboration Beer Geek Rodeo, a dry hopped Big Bark with the addition of smoked Japanese black tea leaves from Live Oak, Ranger Creek’s Strawberry Milk Stout and a cask 512 Pecan Porter with toasted coconut and dried cherries, which I believe has been dubbed CoCo Cerise. The evening really provided something for everyone: a classic comedy, rare and exceptional craft beers, and of course cap guns.

While I am typically not that impressed with the food at the Drafthouse, the ambitious six course menu was expertly paired to the unique beers DFH brought out for the occasion. Everything about the night paired so perfectly that I was compelled to even try the oyster dish. I hate oysters, but at the Alamo, they’re not half bad. My favorite pairing of the night was easily the Olde School Barleywine with the duck breast and grilled rhubarb confit. This was my first time to taste their barleywine offering and at 15% it is quite a massive beer. To have the flavors blend so well with the duck and rhubarb was a real treat. The amount off effort and preparation that goes into an event like this really impressive. And while the beer, the food and the movie were the main attraction of the evening the pre and post show discussions with Sam Calagione, David Wain, Ken Marino and Joe Lo Truglio were an unexpected pleasure. I was able to record the majority of the post show Q&A which you can listen to here: OCFF Q&A

With craft beer becoming more and more mainstream we will always see events like the Houston/Austin Beerfest. Shallow, sorry excuses of someone only wanting to capitalize on an emerging trend. It’s refreshing to attend something like the Off Center Film Fest and see a true love and passion for the event itself. The audio from the beer dinner begins with one of the Drafthouse employees making a point that they could have easily filled up the theater on a Friday night with another screening of The Hunger Games. That’s how long it’s taken me to write this. Sorry. Instead we’re fortunate enough to have people like Dogfish Head and the Alamo Drafthouse who want to support the art and craft of these industries by bringing great films, food and beer together in what is easily becoming my favorite beer event in Austin.

We not so recently had the opportunity to attend some of the events for the Off Center Film Festival, a collaborative effort put on by Dogfish Head Brewing Company and the Alamo Drafthouse, held annually here in town. This year’s festival centered around a Western theme and we were able to attend the Rolling Roadshow presentation of Mel Brooks’ Blazing Saddles and a DFH Beer Feast set to what is considered the greatest Western ever made, Sergio Leone’s classic, Once Upon A Time In The West.
My personal highlight of the festival was the screening of Blazing Saddles in Republic Square Park. Nearly all of the Central Texas production breweries were on hand with three or four beers each in what felt like a miniature TX Craft Brewer’s Festival. Since one of the goals of the evening was to raise money for the TX Craft Brewer’s Guild lots of rare kegs and one off beers were offered up. With the impressive growth Austin has witnessed in our craft beer community the number of brewers easily doubled from the previous year’s screening, offering up plenty of variety for even the most discerning of beer nerds. 3oz samples were poured from a list consisting of the Jester King/Mikkeller collaboration Beer Geek Rodeo, a dry hopped Big Bark with the addition of smoked Japanese black tea leaves from Live Oak, Ranger

Creek’s Strawberry Milk Stout and a cask 512 Pecan Porter with toasted coconut and dried cherries, which I believe has been dubbed CoCo Cerise. The evening really provided something for everyone: a classic comedy, rare and exceptional craft beers, and of course cap guns.
While I am typically not that impressed with the food at the Drafthouse, the ambitious six course menu was expertly paired to the unique beers DFH brought out for the occasion. Everything about the night paired so perfectly that I was compelled to even try the oyster dish. I hate oysters, but at the Alamo, they’re not half bad. My favorite pairing of the night was easily the Olde School Barleywine with the duck breast and grilled rhubarb confit. This was my first time to taste their barleywine offering and at 15% it is quite a massive beer. To have the flavors blend so well with the duck and rhubarb was a real treat. The amount off effort and preparation that goes into an event like this really impressive. And while the beer, the food and the movie were the main attraction of the evening the pre and post show discussions with Sam Calagione, David Wain, Ken Marino and Joe Lo Truglio were an unexpected pleasure. I was able to record the majority of the post show Q&A which you can listen to here: OCFF Q&A

With craft beer becoming more and more mainstream we will always see events like the Houston/Austin Beerfest. Shallow, sorry excuses of someone only wanting to capitalize on an emerging trend. It’s refreshing to attend something like the Off Center Film Fest and see a true love and passion for the event itself. The audio from the beer dinner begins with one of the Drafthouse employees making a point that they could have easily filled up the theater on a Friday night with another screening of The Hunger Games. That’s how long it’s taken me to write this. Sorry. Instead we’re fortunate enough to have people like Dogfish Head and the Alamo Drafthouse who want to support the art and craft of these industries by bringing great films, food and beer together in what is easily becoming my favorite beer event in Austin.

On a side note: It’s rumored that the newest Dogfish Head collaboration might be making it’s way to Texas soon. So be on the look out for Positive Contact to make it’s way to a shelf near you. From the way Sam describes it, this is bound to be the most extravagant beer packaging I have ever seen.
Path:

The boys at Austin Beerworks will be celebrating one year making beer in Austin this Saturday with an open house and the release of two anniversary beers.

From the horses’ mouth:

We’re very excited to announce our 1st Anniversary party! We’ll be holding it at the brewery this Saturday, May 12th. In addition to our normal lineup, we’ll be tapping Battle Axe, Sputnik, and Gold Fist throughout the day. And that’s not all!

We will also be introducing our 1st Anniversary beers. We made two batches of the same recipe and used a different yeast on each one. The results are: Missile Dropkick Double IPA and Flying Headbutt Belgian IPA. Both were dry hopped 3 separate times, with 3 different hops. We used over 400lbs of hops in these beers. They will melt your face off.

There will be 2 sessions, 12-3pm and 3-6pm. Both sessions will be limited to 500 people. We will release 100 tickets to each session every day until Friday. Starting now.

Tickets are free but are moving fast.

Keep up with Austin Beerworks on Twitter and Facebook for announcements when more batches of tickets become available.

Jim and Shane of Twisted X are opening the doors to the pilot brewery out in Cedar Park to celebrate their first anniversary and Cinco de Mayo (not a coincidence) on, uh, May 5.

From the horses’ mouth:

About one year ago on May 5th, 2011 Twisted X Brewing Co. launched Tex Mex Beer. We are celebrating with a Cinco de Mayo party and tour at our pilot location in Cedar Park, TX. Please, if you could Tweet, FB, and Post at will our Twisted X – 1 Year Anniversary Brewery Tour link – http://texmexbeer.eventbrite.com/.

The Twisted X Brewing Company invites you to attend our first anniversary tour and party. It was one year ago when Tex Mex Beer was introduced to the world and we are having a celebration at the brewery. The ticket price includes:

The Alamo Drafthouse and Dogfish Head Off-Centered Film Fest will be rolling into town this week starting Thursday evening with events through Saturday. We’ve participated in this event over the past few years and it’s been one we always look forward to.
As of last year they have expanded the event from a two day bit out at the Lake Creek location to multiple days of film, beer, and feasts at multiple locations around town and involving several of the area’s breweries all currated by the geniuses at Alamo and Dogfish Head’s craft beer mega-star, SAM CALAGIONE.

The Alamo Drafthouse Cinema and Dogfish Head Craft Brewery have teamed up for the 5th Annual “Off-Centered Film Fest”, which features ‘off-centered films for off-centered people’! Sam Calagione, Dogfish Head Craft Brewery Founder and Head Brewer will be your host for each of the events and this year he’s bringing along some of our favorite comedic actors, writers and directors: David Wain (Wanderlust, Wet Hot American Summer), Ken Marino (Wet Hot American Summer, Wanderlust) and Jo Lo Truglio (Wet Hot American Summer, Superbad) to co-host.

WHEN/WHERE:THURSDAY, APRIL 19th – Republic Square Park

BLAZING SADDLES QUOTE-ALONG BEER PARTY – 6:00 PM

The Off-Centered Film Fest will kick off with an outdoor BLAZING SADDLES Quote-Along Beer Party Rolling Roadshow and a medley of craft brews. The Beer Party is getting the Action Pack treatment this year with a quote-along screening complete with subtitles to all the most memorable lines and cap guns to shoot ‘em up with Black Bart and The Waco Kid. Members of the Central Texas brewing community will be out in full force to showcase, and in some cases premiere, their most extreme, rare brews. There are confirmed kegs from (512), Circle, Dogfish Head, Hops & Grain, Jester King, South Austin Beer and Thirsty Planet with even more to come. Each brewery is bringing a special showcase beer that is normally hard to come by including a Cask of Jester King/Mikkeller Beer Geek Rodeo, Ranger Creek’s Strawberry Milk Stout and Thirsty Planet’s Jittery Monk Smoked Coffee Dubbel! Local non-profit The Texas Craft Brewers Guild will be operating a pie booth filled with the brewmasters behind many of the ales on hand and to top it all off, the event will also feature a mechanical bull! Bring a blanket and/or chair and enjoy a great movie, brew and food under the stars. Gates open at 6:00 PM and the movie will start at sundown.

Join Sam Calagione, founder of Dogfish Head Craft Brewery, for an evening of off-centered ales and incredibly awesome food from Alamo Drafthouse Executive Chef John Bullington. Attendees will be treated to a breathtaking 6 course Italian feast, paired with 8 beers from Dogfish Head Craft Brewery. Sam Calagione will be bringing special, hard to come by Dogfish Head kegs with enough character and nuance to stand up to any wine. See the link below to download the full menu for this event with beer pairings and prepare for some intense yearning.

Join us for a screening of the hilarious hit web series WAINY DAYS with series creator David Wain in attendance along with special guests Jo Lo Truglio and Ken Marino. We will be exploring the best episodes of all 5 seasons and debuting some never before seen outtakes and deleted scenes from the recent feature film Wanderlust while enjoying some Dogfish Head brews.

Sam Calagione and crew will be at the Alamo Drafthouse on S. Lamar enjoying some pints and celebrating some Western off-centered films. 18 of the short films submitted will be screened including the first, second and third place films. This year

for the first time an Audience Award will be presented to the short film that receives the most online votes. The top 10 shorts, as determined by our esteemed panel of judges, are now online for viewing and voting at http://vote.offcenteredfilmfest.com/. Vote for your favorite film and then join us at the screening when the winners are announced!

That’s right, you read the post title correctly, we have a new issue coming out shortly (they’re quarterly and correspond wt the seasons, if you haven’t noticed).

We’re all real excited about this issue. It’s got action, adventure, romance, horror, comedy, beer news, brewmors, lots of food content (we almost called this the food issue), and of course, guide-y type stuff you’d expect from a publication calling itself a guide.

This one means we’ve lasted a year and what better way to celebrate than to celebrate. So come join us and our friends at Black Star Co-op at their place, Black Star Co-op, Monday, April 2 at 6pm.
And to top it off, we collaborated with Brewer Jeff Young to put together some special casks for the occasion. On Monday, you’ll be calling him DJ Jazzy Jeff Young, cause he’ll be dropping the Mad Beetz cask we collaborated with him on. Mad Beetz is Black Star’s High Esteem with a healthy dose of beet juice and peppers- an original idea behind the baby geniuses that brought you Austin Beer Guide and those darn confusing #Brewmors!

The second cask is just a lot of hops; we’re calling it Hop Safety Net or ‘Where’s my theme music? *slam dunk*!’ (this second title will make more sense once you hear the podcasts we recorded wt DJ Jazzy Jeff Young recently).
Oh, and to top off the top off, if you buy either of the cask beers, they’ll be sold in our original one of a kind Austin Beer Guide #Brewmor Glass, YOURS TO